"Leave no family behind"; J&K LG directs admn to provide round-the-clock support [details]

J&K administration is seen going above and beyond to extend relief aid, financial help and assistance in every walk of life with a singular goal of equitable development of the UT. A day after the launch of Hausla, a comprehensive programme for catalysing women entrepreneurship in the UT, J&K LG Manoj Sinha rolled out

"It is our duty and utmost responsibility to support families, restore livelihoods and ensure stability in their life. We stand in solidarity with the families who lost the earning member due to the pandemic. Besides pension, every effort will be made to ensure they live a dignified life and have no financial difficulties," LG Sinha said in a statement, announcing the rollout of a new relief scheme in J&K.

SASCM: What are the benefits?

SASCM stands for Special Assistance Scheme for COVID Mortalities, which aims to provide financial assistance to families and children affected by COVID-19. The J&K administration is committing to serve as a guardian for children who lost their parents in the pandemic and take all necessary steps for their well-being and education.

LG Sinha noted that J&K families affected by the pandemic will receive the benefits under PM Narendra Modi's "PM CARES for Children" scheme. He directed the concerned officials to ensure the PM CARES benefits are extended to all the affected families.

LG Sinha applauded the efforts of the Social Welfare Department for providing scholarships and pensionary support to over 512 beneficiaries and called for total coverage under the scheme at the earliest.

Under the SASCM scheme, a scholarship of Rs 20,000 per annum for school going students and Rs 40,000 per annum for college-going students will be provided. Additionally, a family in distress shall be eligible for a scholarship for two children, if they are not getting any other scholarship.

Furthermore, the SASCM scheme provides cash assistance of Rs 1,000 per month to spouse and the eldest member of the family. Besides, the benefits of all other social welfare schemes, including pensions, etc, will be extended to the families.

The affected families will get help in more ways than one. A Social Welfare Department's special cell is dedicated to track and provide benefits under existing government welfare schemes, which the family may be eligible for. LG Sinha directed all Deputy Commissioners and officials of the Social Welfare Department to identify families who have lost their loved ones to COVID in order to provide the necessary support.

The District Social Welfare officers are directed to regularly visit affected families in their respective areas and ensure round-the-clock support is provided to them. This ensures bereaved families have someone to turn no, no matter the hour of the day.

"Work with high sensitivity and double your efforts in reaching out to every affected family ensuring that no one is left behind," Sinha told concerned officials.

As a part of providing support under the SASCM scheme is to ensure sustainability. To attain that, LG Sinha remarked that the administration will reach out to every affected family in the UT that is willing to start their own business or other venture for self-employment and provide financial assistance. In addition, the families will be given training and be provided with market linkages to help them further.

J&K welfare schemes

J&K administration has rolled out various welfare schemes in wake of the pandemic. Most recently, it launched "HAUSLA — Inspiring her growth", a comprehensive programme for catalysing women entrepreneurship in UT.

Earlier this month, in a historic move, J&K LG set aside ₹12,600.58 Crore District Capex Budget for 2021-22, which is more than double since last year and is approved for equitable development of UT of J&K with active involvement of Panchayats, BDCs and DDCs.

In last week's meeting, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that Jammu & Kashmir has come a long way with a major boost to development along with transparency. Around 90% saturation has been achieved in individual beneficiary Central Government schemes in J&K. Several major road projects, two new AIIMS, 7 new Medical Colleges are being set up. New industrial policy has been notified with a Rs 28,400 crore package to accelerate industrial growth in J&K with the creation of 4.5 lakh jobs.